Canopies are utilized in many different applications. This includes tailgating on parking lots, setting up on boats, setting up in grandstands, setting up on various types of beaches and the like. Difficulties are presented with portable canopies when anchoring the canopies to the ground. Many canopies utilize a stake system used to anchor the canopy to the ground; however, oftentimes canopies need to be set up in areas such as parking lots where such an anchoring system is ineffective or damages the parking lot. Other methods of anchoring a canopy include utilizing bags of sand or similar material and placing them on or around the legs to hold the legs in place. While this helps hold a canopy in place on surfaces such as concrete these bags typically are very heavy, difficult to store and haul and take up much needed room in a vehicle.
Many boaters who frequent lakes and rivers face the problem of limited storage on their boats, while at the same time wanting to transport items to be used to set up a “day camp” on the shoreline. The “day camp” may be comprised of all sorts of portable, folding or collapsible items such as chairs, tables and canopies. The portable canopy, although light and collapsible, is also prone to lifting, overturn, and damage, even in light winds and/or sudden gusts. The uplifting or overturn of the unsecured canopy has the potential to cause injury to the users. This invention addresses the need of supplying sufficient weight to securely anchor the canopy legs so as to prevent the aforementioned hazards.
There are many existing inventions that deal with the anchoring of portable canopies. Although effective, they are not extremely “boat friendly”. Some rely on collapsible bags that are to be filled with sand and either tethered or strapped to the canopy frame or leg. But, some shorelines do not have sandy beaches to get sand and upon collapsing these bags that were filled with sand for storage on the boat, much of the sand is retained, even after rinsing in the water, and thereby bringing sand into the boat. This invention seeks to overcome the problems associated with the other portable canopies.
Other existing inventions are of non-collapsible containers or vessels. They are typically fluent filled and secured using hardware or tethers. Their lack of being collapsed and easily stored makes them less than desirable for boating.
The last family of existing inventions utilize ground anchors or stakes. Unfortunately, in soft sand the anchors or stakes will get pulled out in windy conditions and in hard soils they are extremely hard to secure into the ground.
Lastly, with most of these canopy anchoring devices there is a tripping hazard and some are not easily stored.
This invention addresses the need of applying weight, and at the same time capturing the legs of a portable canopy for a secure anchoring in moderate winds and occasional gusts. This invention is specifically designed so that it can be easily folded or roll-up into very small profile requiring minimal storage space. This invention is also specifically designed to shed sand easily and rinse off almost completely sand-free. The additional benefits of this invention include: 1) no tripping hazard, i.e. on ropes, tethers, and stakes; 2) toe-stubbing protection; 3) ability to accept footed legs; and 4) suitable for all shoreline compositions.
Although the primary target of this invention is the boating population, it could easily be embraced by anyone with a portable collapsible canopy and a source of water. Recreational vehicle owners, home-owners, campers, vendors, etc. would be but a few.
Additionally, due to the shape of the portable canopy anchoring device, it yields itself well as a device upon which advertising and indicia can be positioned on and then attached to each leg of a vendor's canopy legs.
The basics of this invention is of a fluid filled cylindrical sleeve with a through bore aperture through which the canopy leg is placed. It is constructed from a flexible material that captures the canopy leg in the aperture when inflated with fluid, typically water. There is a fill orifice with a closure device on the top and a drain orifice with closure device near the bottom. In typical use, applications of this invention would be made to each canopy leg.